Meaningless Words
by Yumegokochi
Summary: The shinobi system was eradicated 18 years ago, leaving them to run for their lives. Naruto Uzumaki is one of those people.  Since he was born, he's had run from town to town, striking hope in the people's hearts. And something more in Sasuke's. SasuNaru
1. Prologue

Summary: The shinobi system was eradicated 18 years ago, leaving many fleeing for their lives. Naruto Uzumaki is one of those people. Ever since he was born, he's had run from town to town, striking hope in the people's hearts. And something more in Sasuke's.

Disclaimer: I'm going to say this now, I do not own Naruto or any of the characters in Naruto. This is the only time that I'll say this, as I don't really want to have to repeat this every single chapter...

This is my first story on this account, but I wouldn't worry about it not being completed or anything like that. I actually wrote this story for NaNoWriMo, and so I've already got the first 18 chapters of this story written. They just need to be revised, a lot. I hope that you enjoy.

* * *

><p><strong>Meaningless Words<strong>

_Prologue_

* * *

><p>"<em>Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." –Winston Churchill<em>

* * *

><p>Everyone could see him as they walked into the arena that had held the chuunin exams for years. The man stood proud and strong, even though everyone knew that he was still weakened from the fight and the loss of his wife just days before. It was easy to see that the man was fighting still, from the pale tone of his normally tanned skin, to the strange black handcuffs that were holding his hands behind his back.<p>

His blond hair gleamed in the sunshine, and he let loose a small sigh of relief as he noticed that most of the village wasn't in the arena as the doors closed for the final time. The guards at each of the doors would prevent anyone from leaving until everything was said and done, but the ones that they were supposed to stop from leaving were nowhere in sight.

Whispers were spreading through the arena, their curiosity spiked at the sight of him chained up, like a common criminal. He realized, with a tinge of disappointment that that was exactly what he was, and all of the children that came from shinobi clans, or had kekkai genkai were too.

It had only been days since his son was brought into the world, and now the boy would be forced into a life of hiding.

"Welcome, citizens of Konoha. I am sure that all of you are wondering why you were told to come here today, and I, the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, am here to explain it to you," a loud, male voice announced, silencing the crowds.

The man standing in the middle of the arena tensed, as he looked up to find the Daimyo standing where he should have been. It was easy for the crowds to see that something was wrong as their beloved Hokage glared up at the Daimyo.

"At this time, all of the citizens in all of the shinobi villages are gathered for their Daimyos to inform them of what I am about to tell you. For the past three days, all of the Daimyos have been discussing what path of action to take after the recent Kyuubi attack, and it was just this morning that we came upon a solution. All of the Daimyo will eradicate the shinobi systems in our lands as soon as possible. This starts with the execution of all of the Kage, past and current."

The crowds started to shout, and the blond man allowed himself a moment of smugness. Even if the Daimyo had agreed to do this, there was no way that all of the regular citizens would agree to it. The shouts didn't last long though, as twenty or so guards appeared in the arena, surrounding him completely.

"In the next couple of weeks, there will be a lot of changes, so it's necessary that you know of them before they happen. Shinobi that are of genin rank and some chuunin, and do not have a kekkai genkai or extremely powerful jutsu, will simply have their chakra sealed so that it will be impossible for them to use anything other than taijutsu. However, if they cause any trouble, they will be publicly executed, just like your beloved Hokage will be in a little bit.

"Also, all and any shinobi that have high levels of chakra, have a powerful kekkai genkai, or are a jinchūriki will be executed within the week. In the mean time, the guards that you see, who are men and women who have trained to be samurai in the Land of Iron, will be protecting the former shinobi villages until all of the higher level shinobi have been executed. I have reason to believe that with this, things will start to change for the better," the Daimyo finished.

Anger flowed through the blond haired man's body, as he yelled out, "None of you listen to that idiot! Things aren't going to change for the better if you let this happen. All of the countries will be broken, while loved ones are brutally murdered for almost no reason, and the shinobi that aren't murdered will have their chakra sealed and will be locked away, while they're left to rot for the rest of their days!"

A murmur ran through the crowds as two of the guards ran up to him, quickly unsheathing their katana. The two blades were placed under his chin, lightly digging into his neck.

"One last thing before the execution of your Hokage, all of the executions will be public and attendance will be mandatory, no matter your age. The first execution will take place tomorrow morning at 9 Am, and they will continue until 4 in the evening. This pattern will continue every day until all of the higher ranking shinobi, shinobi clans, and jinchūriki are dead."

The arena was silent as the reality sank in. People that they had known their whole lives, along with their families, would be killed in a matter of days and there was nothing that they could do about it. The blond man could tell by the silence that they were just going to give up before they even tried.

"Minato Namikaze, is there anything that you would like to tell the citizens of Konoha before your execution?" the Daimyo asked, finally turning his attention towards the man standing in the middle of the arena.

"Actually, I do have something to say. Citizens of Konoha, don't give up hope so easily. It's impossible for them to kill off all of the shinobi, no matter how hard they may try, and one day this decision will come back to haunt them. Stay strong until then," the blond man announced.

He wished that he could see the look on the man's face as the silence lifted, but the Daimyo was too far away. The two guards that were on either side of him were looking off in the distance, waiting for some sort of signal. In moments he would be dead, and he could only hope that everything had gone according to plan.

His eyes closed as one of the blades dropped from his throat, and allowed his mind to wander to Kushina, and the son that she had left him. He wished that he could see his wife's long, red hair and her violet eyes just once more before he died but the Kyuubi had taken her away from him, just like these samurai were about to take him away from his new born son. The boy's blond hair and blue eyes almost mirrored his own, and now that the Kyuubi had been sealed inside of him, he would be searched for, for the rest of his life. At the very least, he wouldn't be killed before his life even got a chance to start, if Jiraiya got there in time.

Finally, the signal was made, and the guard cut the blond man's throat, while the other one pierced the man through the heart, from behind. Both swords were quickly taken out of the man and Minato Namikaze, the Fourth Hokage, fell to the ground, dead, while the villagers silently mourned for him.

* * *

><p>"Why has this happened? First the village is attacked, and now there's this," a dark haired woman demanded, as she paced around the room.<p>

"I would tell you if I knew, Mikoto, but I don't. You need to be strong for our sons, when I'm no longer around. I know that you don't want to leave without me, but I can't leave those in the clan that either can't leave or won't leave. As your husband and a father, I have the right to want to protect you, but as a clan leader, I don't have the right to leave the clan as it falls. Remember the reason why Minato chose to tell us about this," her husband tried to console her.

Mikoto nodded, stopping and turning to face the man that was the most important to her, while she ignored the tears that were slowly making their way down her face.

She knew that he was telling the truth, because even if this man was the most important to her, she couldn't just abandon her sons so she could die with him. She needed to be strong, even if her whole world was crashing down around her, with her best friend having died just days before and now her husband dying because of the Daimyo's decision. It was bad enough that she was abandoning her clan when they needed her the most.

"Mom, I packed everything that you asked me to, and I gave Sasuke his bottle," a quiet voice interrupted him.

The dark haired woman quickly wiped away most of the tears from her face before she turned back around to face her eldest son. A new wave of tears hit her as soon as she looked her son in the eyes, easily spotting the worry in them. The young boy quickly started to walk towards his mother as he noticed the tears in her eyes.

"It's okay, Itachi, your mother and I just need a few more minutes before she will be ready to leave with you. Maybe you could go keep Sasuke company for a little while, and your mother will meet you there in a bit," Fugaku requested, looking over at the boy.

Itachi nodded slightly before heading back out of the room, so he could go keep an eye on his younger brother.

"Mikoto, look at me," the Uchiha clan leader demanded, turning the dark haired woman around so she was facing him once again.

She raised her eyes slightly so that they were making eye contact, but she had successfully wiped all emotions from her face, the way that only an Uchiha could. Fugaku sighed softly, and gently wiped the tears away from her pretty eyes. He wished that she didn't have to go through this pain, and that he could leave with her, but it was impossible.

"Fugaku… how am I supposed to survive without you there to support me?" Mikoto whispered, placing her hand over his heart.

"You will survive in any way that you can, and I know that you will be able to because the lives of our two sons depend on you. Not only that though, I believe in you. Now, before you leave, would you smile for me? The last thing that I want to remember is you smiling at me like you do every morning," the dark haired man responded.

The corners of her mouth turned up ever so slightly, but the happiness in the smile was absent, and he doubted that it would ever return. He hated how sad and broken she looked, and inwardly wondered if he had a similar expression on his face.

His head dropped slightly as he captured her lips in a soft kiss. It was the last one that they would share, and he didn't want it to end.

"Goodbye, Fugaku. I'm sure that we'll meet again, no matter where that might be, but please remember that I'll always love you, no matter what happens," she told him, quietly.

"I'll remember that, as long as you remember that my love for you won't fade. I'm looking forward to the next time that we see each other, already," he informed her, with his own small, fake smile.

Mikoto nodded slightly and left the room, easily ignoring the silent tears that were once more running down her face, as she remembered all of the memories in the house. From when she and Fugaku had been newly-weds, desperately in love, to when Itachi was born and then from Sasuke being born to Itachi boldly telling her that he would always look over his little brother. This would be the last time that she allowed herself to succumb to these emotions because she would lock them away, for her own state of mind. She needed to stay strong for her sons, at least until they didn't need her anymore.

She walked through the halls mechanically, until she came upon Sasuke's room. For a moment, she watched from the doorway as Itachi sat in the rocking chair with Sasuke standing in his lap. The youngest was curiously poking the tears that were silent flowing from Itachi's eyes.

"I can take Sasuke and one of the bags, if you can take the other two. You can handle them, right?" she asked her eldest son.

"Of course I can handle them, mom," Itachi reassured her.

"Then let's go before they can get here."


	2. Chapter 1

Summary: The shinobi system was eradicated 18 years ago, leaving many fleeing for their lives. Naruto Uzumaki is one of those people. Ever since he was born, he's had run from town to town, striking hope in the people's hearts. And something more in Sasuke's.

****Hello everyone, and an early Merry Christmas to all of you. Here's the first actual chapter of Meaningless Words, and I really do hope that everyone enjoys it. No Sasuke yet, but he will be making an appearance in the next chapter.

Thanks to dragonfire04 for the review, and also, thanks to the others who have put this on Story Alert. I accept all positive criticism, and well, everything except for flames. At this point, I will say that anyone whose homophobic shouldn't read this story, as it will have SasuNaru in it.

* * *

><p><strong>Meaningless Words<strong>

_Chapter 1_

* * *

><p>"<em>Travelling is not just seeing the new; it is also leaving behind. Not just opening doors; also closing them behind you, never to return. But the place you have left forever is always there for you to see whenever you shut your eyes." –Jan Myrdal<em>

* * *

><p>The view from the roof of the small house was always the best. The sun was coming up over the small lake not far from the house, casting a beautiful image over the small village. Birds were chirping in the distance as they woke with the sun. The nearby lake was perfectly smooth in the absence of the wind, and one could see the reflection of the trees and the sky perfectly. And on top of a small house, which was slightly away from the rest of the village, was a teenage boy, whose blond hair shined in the sun.<p>

If someone were to see him right now, they would say that he looked completely relaxed, the way that admired the view. The whole village enjoyed his presence, but it wouldn't be until he let that they would realize that none of them ever even found out his name.

Nor did they ever question the weird sounds coming from the lake, or when a whole group of trees in a certain area were completely destroyed.

"Naruto, get your ass down here!" someone called, from inside of the house.

"I'll be down there in a second, so don't go getting your panties in a twist, Ero-sennin!" the blond yelled back.

Naruto looked back out to the peaceful scenery, before standing up from his spot on the roof and easily jumping to the ground. The front door was already open, and the white haired man that he affectionately called "Ero-sennin" was standing in the kitchen.

Something was off though, and he knew that he didn't like it. Not under the circumstances that he lived in.

"So, what are you doing up so early? I know that you snuck out to go peek at the hot springs again last night, just like I know that when you do so, you're never up until noon," the blond commented, grabbing an apple from the bowl on the table.

A loud crunch echoed through the room as he took a bite out of the juicy fruit. He knew that there was a reason why they were staying in this village. All of their food was delicious.

"Naruto…," he froze, recognizing the rare tone Jiraiya was using, "One of the toads spotted a small group of samurai about 25 kilometers north of the village, and they're headed this way," the man informed him.

"I'm just going to grab my bag, I'll be back in a second," was Naruto's response.

Jiraiya watched as the apple that the blond had been eating fell to the floor. He knew without watching that his student would be grabbing a backpack from his closet, and that it held only the things that were the most important. Both of their rooms were completely bare of anything that might make it easier to tell who they were, such as pictures or certain coloured sheets. Just like every other house they had stayed in.

Naruto reappeared in the kitchen, and for easily the millionth time, Jiraiya was reminded of his only regret. That he hadn't been able to give his student a proper life, or at least let them stay in one place for longer than a few months at a time.

"So, where will we be headed this time around?" Naruto asked, with no traces of his usual grin on his face.

"This time we're going to be trying something a little different than usual. I think you're old enough to know about some things but first, we have to make a quick stop in the Land of Wind to meet up with someone," was the answer.

The blonde haired teen nodded, and took off towards the direction of the sandy country, with the white haired pervert following closely behind him. They ran as fast as they could, with the hope that they would be a good distance away before the house they had been staying in was searched. Just like every other house in the small village would be.

An hour later, a group of 6 or 7 burst into the now empty house. All of them were dressed in the same armor, with their faces covered by masks, like the ANBU did almost two decades before.

Within minutes, the whole house had been thoroughly searched, but no matter how hard they looked, they couldn't find any sign that anyone had even entered the house. There was nothing to set it apart from any other house, except maybe the fact that it was so bare.

They knew that somebody had been living in the place, as was obvious by the lack of dust in the supposedly abandoned house. Also, one of them noticed, there was a bowl of fresh fruit on the table, along with an apple on the ground with just one bite taken out of it.

It was just like so many other houses that they had found over the years…

* * *

><p>If the man sitting at the bar hadn't been one of her friends, she would have thought that he was rather suspicious. He was wearing a mask that completely covered half of his face, and there was a long scar that ran down the middle of his left eye. It would have been slightly less suspicious if he wasn't sitting alone while reading a book that definitely wasn't innocent.<p>

"So, what would you like to drink today, Kakashi?" she asked him, with a small smile.

"Just a glass of water today, Kurenai," he answered, flipping the page of his book.

She turned around to grab the glass, as she asked him, "Are you alright? You haven't failed to order some sort of alcoholic beverage once, since you got here. This small town may be quiet, but Asuma would be glad to show you some places farther away from town that he goes to, to relax…"

Kakashi thought about it for a few moments. Generally, going out with Asuma to some place away from the village where nobody could see them using chakra would be a wonderful idea, especially when Kurenai was the one suggesting it.

There was one problem though, as he thought back to the events of earlier in the day. It was doubtful that he would be staying in the small town long enough for that to happen. No, if he was being summoned back to the base, then he probably would be gone by morning.

"Thanks for the suggestion, I think I'll go talk to him about that tomorrow. That's not the reason why I'm not ordering anything tonight though. Just a feeling that some things are going to happen tonight that I would rather stay sober for," he explained, smiling up at the red eyed bartender.

"You have a feeling that something strange is going to happen tonight? That's odd, because Asuma said something along those lines before I left the house earlier. Well, no matter what happens, the two of you should just try and stay out of trouble."

With a small smile of her own, she handed him a large glass of icy water. Her husband's and Kakashi's intuitions were to be trusted, especially if Kakashi had felt the need to inform her of it.

"I doubt that we'll be getting into any trouble, but if we do, I'll be the one to make sure that that idiot comes back to you, safe and sound."

"And that's supposed to reassure me?"

"I tried."

She laughed lightly at the silver haired man's antics, as she went back to washing some of the glasses. It would have been a lie if she had said that she didn't feel the same feeling. Something was going to happen tonight, even if it ended up having nothing to do with her, Asuma or Kakashi. Her only wish was that it didn't affect her and her family too much.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Ero-sennin, is that it?"<p>

"Yeah, that's it, brat."

Naruto rolled his eyes at the familiar name, but it didn't take him long to focus on running once again. It didn't take much to be able to tell that the white haired man was slowly wearing down, even if it had been a whole three days since they had left their cabin in the Land of Fire. If he was honest with himself, than he would have admitted that he was worried about the old man but he wasn't about to be honest with himself now, so nothing else was said.

There were other things on his mind at the moment, anyways. Things such as the man that Jiraiya was refusing to tell him about, and he would admit that he was excited to see the man.

However, he could only hope that the meeting happened after both of them were able to get a good sleep and hopefully a shower. Chances were that he wouldn't get much of a sleep, as he figured it to be sometime after midnight, but that didn't always mean anything. A rumbling could be heard from his stomach as his mind wandered to another necessity. He could really go for about ten or so bowls of ramen right now.

"Here, eat this. I think I'm going to go crazy if I have to hear your stomach growling one more time," Jiraiya commented, throwing a food bar at him.

"Thanks, I needed that," he answered, easily catching the bar as it fell.

The bar didn't exactly taste the best, but Naruto guessed that he couldn't exactly complain about taste at the moment. It would probably be able to hold him off for the next half hour or so, at least until they were at the small village that was somewhere around here. If only the bars were ramen flavored though.

The lights off in the distance were slowly getting brighter, and he realized that they probably didn't need to be conserving chakra any longer. It wasn't much of a problem for him, but he doubted Jiraiya could constantly run with the help of chakra for any longer than a couple of days. He could last about 4 or 5 days himself, but that was only if he had to and if he didn't pass out from not eating or sleeping during that time too.

"Don't just speed up like that! At least give me a couple seconds of warning."

Jiraiya wasn't surprised when the shouts weren't responded to. The brat was excited, and he tended to get tunnel vision when he got close to a village after they had been travelling. Although, he was sure that the blond teenager was still holding back. The brat was definitely something else that much was for sure…

Twenty minutes later, in a small village not too far away, two guards stood at the gates of the village. They had been standing there for hours, and not a single person had stopped to visit the small village. It made them wonder why they had been trained so ruthlessly when they were just to do a job such as this.

"Hey, I think somebody's heading this way," one of them commented, motioning towards the sandy desert.

"Yeah, you're right, there is somebody coming here. A young couple, by the looks of it," the other one confirmed.

"I wonder what they're doing way out here at this time of night...," the first guard wondered, but the other only shrugged his shoulders as a response.

As the two people got closer to the village, it was easy to tell that it was indeed a young couple. There was a woman in her early twenties, who had long, beautiful black hair and shocking blue eyes and had a pale hand intertwined with her boyfriend's. The man was considerably taller than his girlfriend, and had bright blonde hair and dark brown hair. Both were dressed in civilian's clothes, and it was nothing too out of the ordinary. Probably just a couple running away so that they could be together.

"Please state your names and your business today," the first one requested, as they approached the gate.

"My name is Hana and this is my boyfriend, Keiji. We'll only be here for the night, and will probably be leaving sometime in the morning. We're just here to use the inn for the night," the black haired girl informed him, with a smile.

"Very well, I'll inform the guards for the morning shift that the two of you will be leaving, so there won't be any problems there. You better take care of this beautiful girl, young man, and you should be careful too. There's no telling what type of people are out there these days."

"You don't have to worry about her. She can be a little hell cat when she wants to be," the blond man responded.

The guard let out a soft chuckle as the two walked through the gates. The black haired girl scowled lightly at her boyfriend as they walked down the streets, all traces of friendliness suddenly gone.

"Why did you have to tell him that I was a hell cat? It would have been better if you just went all with it and said that you'd do anything to protect me," the black haired woman hissed at him.

"Yeah, well, how come a self-proclaimed super pervert such as yourself is pretending to be my girlfriend? Couldn't you have picked our cover story to be an uncle and nephew travelling together, or something of the sort? Besides, you should know by now that I'm not even interested in girls…," The blond responded.

"It's hard to pretend to be a relative now that you're older. Why would an eighteen year old boy be travelling with their relatives? Besides, in this day and age, most of the older villagers are too scared to leave the safety of their villages because they think some shinobi is going to murder them and leave their bodies in a ditch."

The blond man rolled his brown eyes and muttered something underneath his breath, all the while ignoring the woman at his side. It wasn't like he couldn't have used the henge to change into someone a few years younger or a few years older, but it seemed the old man was losing it in his old age.

The black haired girl continued to lead him through the streets of the small village, and neither of them paid any attention to the curious look from the few people walking around. However it didn't take long for them to reach the building that they were looking for.

"Keiji" groaned in protest as he realized that they had been headed for a small pub, instead of an inn. It seemed that he wouldn't get the shower that he had hoped for.

"I apologize, but this bar is only open to certain people on Tuesday nights. If you still want to come here in the future though, we'll be open to the rest of the public tomorrow night," someone responded through the door.

"Maybe you'll change your mind if I tell you our names? My boyfriend's name is Minato Namikaze, and I am Kushina Uzumaki, if you understand what I'm trying to tell you…," "Hana" answered, with a fake giggle.

The blond gagged silently at the sound. He had hoped that such a sound would never leave his sensei's mouth, at least not while he wasn't peeping on some innocent woman. And it was still disturbing, even if he was using a henge. Hell, even the thought was disturbing…

A second later, the door opened, revealing a black haired man. He wouldn't have been surprised if the hesitation was from the sound of the Hokage's name. All of the names of the previous Kage were taboo.

"Get in here, before anyone sees you," the man told them, quickly ushering them inside.

The door closed behind them with an audible click, leaving them at the mercy of the people who were in the small pub. There were about 8 people in the bar, mostly in small groups of two or three, but the blond couldn't recognize any of them. Although, that didn't come as much of a surprise.

"That door is locked, correct?" the black haired woman asked, her voice dropping to a whisper.

"Of course it is," the man responded.

The woman gave the blond man a look, and he nodded back. Without another word, they both removed their henge jutsu. In their place stood a tall white haired old man, and a slightly shorter blonde teenager. It made Naruto feel better to see his sensei as he normally looked instead of as a young woman, but he was still a bit on the off side.

"Is that really you, Jiraiya?" the black haired man exclaimed, once he saw the older man.

"Of course it's me! Who else would have this beautiful face of mine? Although I guess that I can excuse it this time because you haven't seen me since this brat was born," the "super pervert" answered, sitting down at one of the tables.

Naruto followed his sensei's example and sat down across from the white haired man. The black haired man causally sat down to his left, while another man with gray hair slowly walked over, book in hand, and sat down next to Jiraiya. The blond slightly narrowed his eyes as he tried to figure out what was going on.

Jiraiya had told him that there was only one person that he had wanted to introduce to him. And chances were that it was one of these two men if they had sat down so willingly. But the question was, which one of them was it?

"Naruto, I would like to introduce you to Asuma Sarutobi, the son of Hiruzen Sarutobi, who you should know as the Third Hokage, and Kakashi Hatake, a former prodigy and the son of Sakumo Hatake, who's known as the White Fang. Kakashi, and Asuma, this is Naruto Uzumaki," Jiraiya introduced them.

"It's nice to meet the two of you," Naruto told them, with a grin.

"You mean to say this is actually the Fourth Hokage's son? I thought that he had died along with Minato, Kushina, and everyone else. Although, he does look a lot like our previous Hokage," Asuma spoke up.

"Well, I can't say that he's much like I expected him to be," the gray haired man, Kakashi, added.

It was then that Jiraiya looked over at Naruto, and it didn't take Naruto any longer to figure out just why the white haired man had been overly vague about the person they were supposed to meet. It had been a while since his sensei had put him in a situation such as this one, but he had learned to always be prepared for it. This was a test, but more specifically it was to test his observation skills and his intuition. And this time Jiraiya wanted him to figure out which one of these two men was the one that they had come here to see.

The three men started talking about something one or another, but Naruto stayed uncharacteristically quiet throughout the majority of the conversation. The blond was fairly certain that it was in fact one of these two men, although there was a small chance that it was another person in the bar that hadn't approached them.

Asuma seemed to be a rather laid back guy, who was generally on time (at least compared to the other man, it seemed, who was chronically late all of the time). Kakashi was a bit more on the serious side, although he had a causal air about him. Both of the men had been trained as shinobi and had kept up their training, although Kakashi had a lot more chances to train while village hopping. However, once he saw the title of the book the gray haired man was reading, Naruto knew exactly which of the men Jiraiya had brought him to see.

"You brought me here to see Kakashi! There's no way that you would bring me here to see a guy who wasn't a pervert, and absolutely obsessed with those perverted books you're always writing!" he shouted, a finger pointed at the gray haired man.

The white haired man chuckled, and admitted, "Yeah, I brought you here to meet Kakashi. Now, would you sit back down before you make an even bigger fool of yourself? You're embarrassing enough as it is."

"I received your message a couple of days ago, but how did you know that I was here? All of my tracks have been thoroughly covered, and the few people that do know what village I'm in at all times are all sworn to secrecy," Kakashi asked the self proclaimed super pervert.

"Itachi and I have been sending letters back and forth to each other over the last week or so. He informed me where you've been staying, and after I told him of my plans, he requested that I meet up with you. He also asked me to inform you that he'll be needing you for his little brother's training."

"Well, I suppose that it's about time that I leave this village anyways."


	3. Chapter 2

****A/N: Hello again. I'm sorry to say that this chapter is slightly shorter than the last chapter, but sometimes that just the way that it turns out. I really do hope that you'll enjoy it though, no matter what the length of it is.

Also, I hope that everyone had a good holiday season. Did you get something that you had really wanted? Or maybe you just enjoyed giving somebody something that they had wanted. I, myself, got a whole bunch of gift cards and then used most of them the next day.

Thanks to the two people that reviewed the last chapter, and also thanks to the rest of you who favourited, or put this story on story alert. I would really enjoy it if I got reviews this time too.

* * *

><p><strong>Meaningless Words<strong>

_Chapter 2_

* * *

><p>"<em>Basic human contact – the meeting of the eyes, the exchanging of words – is to the psyche what oxygen is to the brain. If you're feeling abandoned by the world, interact with anyone that you can." –Martha Beck<em>

* * *

><p>"Why did you ask somebody to come here to train m? You've been doing perfectly fine training me up until now, even in between doing missions for the Akatsuki! So, why has that changed all of a sudden?" the dark haired teen demanded, his teeth clenched in frustration.<p>

The other dark haired man sighed, and closed his eyes. He had hoped that his brother would understand why he was doing that, or at the very least, accept it. It didn't seem like it was going to go that way though.

"Sasuke, it's time that you learn how to depend on other people. It's always been just me, you, and Mother up until a few years ago, but you really do need to create bonds with other people, which is something you can't do with it being just the two of us. I'm hoping that with other people around, you'll learn how to properly interact with other people.

"Besides, there's nothing more that I can teach you. One of the three has an affinity for lightning jutsu, so he will be teaching you jutsu that I'm unable to," Itachi slowly explained to his younger brother.

"It doesn't matter what you say, _Itachi_. I'm not going to agree to this," Sasuke hissed at the man.

Itachi didn't have a chance to respond to Sasuke, as the dark haired teen stormed out of the room, a door slamming as he went out into the pouring rain of Amegakure. The older brother merely sighed at his little brother's childish antics. They weren't surprising, after all.

"Why did he have to do something like this…?" Sasuke asked himself, as he walked through the quiet village.

The people in the shops on either side of the walkway looked at him curiously as he walked, but they weren't worth his attention. He was allowed to walk around the village in the pouring rain, if he wanted to. There were no laws against it, after all. Most people simply hid in the nearest store when a rain storm decided to hit.

"That boy walking in the rain by himself, he has the Uchiha symbol on the back of his shirt. Do you think it's _him_?" one of the villagers whispered.

"No, he looks quite a bit younger than _him_. I would bet anything that that's the younger brother who everyone talks about. There are a lot of rumors about him, but I don't think he's seen in town that often…," another answered.

He could hear the whispers slowly start as he continued to walk through the walkways, one of his eyes twitching in annoyance. Why couldn't these people learn how to keep their thoughts to themselves? At least some of them should have learnt by now not to talk about someone like him while he could hear them.

"Is that Sasuke Uchiha? I've never seen him in the village like this before, not since Mikoto died…"

"I hope that he isn't going to go let out his frustrations on some innocent person. I heard that some of the members of the Akatsuki do that for no reason, and his brother is a member…"

His hand moved from his side to the handle of his sword, which was resting in its scabbard on his belt. It was merely a way to calm himself down, as the sword was something that had been his for a long time. The villagers didn't take it that way though, as he realized once the whispers started getting louder. Once he thought about it, he figured that even just seeing him walking around the village was a strange one, and it was natural for regular civilians to be scared of his Kusanagi.

Most of the villagers were staring at him, even the ones that weren't talking about him. He could see the disgust in their eyes, and there was a lot more disgust compared to the few people who had a bit of respect for him. There were few people who had the guts to walk around the village, when everyone knew that they had been trained as a ninja, and they didn't have a seal anywhere on their person. Even in a village like this one.

And then, just like that, he vanished from the sight of the civilians who all looked around, confused before going back to what they had been doing before. People vanishing around here was nothing new, especially when it was someone like Sasuke Uchiha. In reality, he was sitting on the roof of a nearby shop, having jumped up there with the aid of chakra, and the civilians hadn't been trained to see it. Which had been the main reason why he had done it.

He looked over the roofs of the other shops, as he leaned against the wall that led up to the higher level of the village. His eyes stopped on a gray haired man crouching on the roof next to him. The man in question looked a good ten years older than his brother, and had messy gray hair that completely covered his left eye.

"Ah, you must be Sasuke. Would you happen to know where I would be able to find your older brother?" the man asked him, with a mask covered grin.

At the mention of his older brother, his Sharingan was activated, with the three black tomoes all connected with a thin line, and swirling around his pupil. His hand once again rested on the handle of his Kusanagi, this time though, he was ready to take it out of its sheath at a moment's notice. This man was trained, and it was obvious.

"…Aren't you going to answer my question?" the man asked, curiously.

"Hn," he responded.

"You do realize that it would be easier for both of us if you would just show me the way to the Uchiha compound. Finding your chakra trail with one of my summons would be simple, but I would rather not do that. Blame this on your brother if you must, he never told me where to meet up with him or where he would be, in fact, the only thing he told me was that he was currently living in Ame," the strange man argued, almost casually.

Sasuke had to admit that he was at least somewhat curious, even if he didn't want to. Who would be looking for Itachi, and why would Itachi tell this man that he was living in Ame? The man had to have some sort of contact with his brother, and it was obvious that he was a skilled shinobi, especially if he had a summon. There was only one person that he knew of that would be looking for Itachi at the moment, even if he had never stayed long enough to find out the man's name.

"You're the person that Itachi asked to train me, I know it. I just want to say now that I refuse to be trained by anyone other than Itachi, no matter what his reasons are. So, you might as well save yourself the effort and leave now, it would simply be a waste of your time if you stayed longer," he informed the man, stubbornly.

The man simply laughed at his efforts.

"You don't need to worry about that, I'm not about to train someone who isn't willing to be trained. Regardless of your willingness to be trained by me, I'm still going to be staying in the Uchiha compound for a time. I'm training another boy about your age while his sensei is away for a while, and Itachi promised me the use of the indoor training grounds in the compound," the gray haired man responded.

"Someone my age? Itachi never mentioned anything about that…"

"Really? You might have heard of him, or might not have. His name is Naruto, and he's a stereotypical Uzumaki, if you've ever heard of the Uzumaki clan before. Now could you tell me where your brother is?"

Sasuke pretended to think about it before answering, "He's in the Uchiha compound at the moment, straight down the walkway. It shouldn't take too long before you see it."

He motioned towards the direction that he had been headed before he had jumped up onto the roof of the store.

"Thank you."

Much to his disappointment, the man that was supposed to be training him jumped down onto the walkway and started walking towards the Uchiha compound, which was in the opposite direction than he had told the man. The corners of his mouth turned down in a small frown but he made no move to jump down from the roof.

Going back to the compound wasn't an option at the moment, no matter how much he wanted to satisfy his curiosity.

* * *

><p>Sasuke didn't want to believe that he was doing something like this in his own house, but he couldn't help it. Sure, the thought of doing something like this when Itachi's partner in the Akatsuki came over because of a mission, but he had always known that he would have been brutally murdered in the 5 seconds it took Itachi to realize what he was doing. And Itachi would always find out, there was no doubt about that.<p>

He supposed that there never really was any house guests before now that he could spy on, but it didn't help his dying ego at all. Especially seeming he had been invited to join the two of them, and had immediately declined.

"Naruto, for today, I would like it if you came at me with everything you have. There's no need to worry about injuring me if you're worried," the gray haired man (who he recently discovered went by the name of Kakashi Hatake) requested of the blond teen.

"What's the point of making me do that? I thought that you were supposed to be teaching me something no making me fight you," the gray haired man's student demanded.

"While Jiraiya may have given me an extremely detailed explanation of your skills, it's always easier to judge your skills with my own two eyes. However, I would like you to think of this as an actual fight instead of just a spar though, because by the sounds of it, your battle experience is rather lacking."

"The only reason why I don't have much battle experience is because Ero-sennin never lets me fight any of the samurai, no matter what the situation is. Besides, it's more than a little difficult to train with someone new when almost everyone hates you."

"If everything works out to whatever plan your teacher is coming up with, then I bet you that you'll have plenty of people to train with. Now, stop procrastinating and fight me."

Sasuke watched from his seat on one of the many beams that kept the ceiling from falling down as the whole atmosphere suddenly changed. A group of about 30 of so Kage Bunshin appeared and attacked Kakashi, while the original sat down on the ground and started to meditate.

He figured that the blond was preparing for some sort of jutsu, but it was odd seeing someone simply sitting on the ground while their Kage Bunshin did all of the work. The gray haired man was working through the copies, each one disappearing after a hit or two. By the time that he had finally destroyed all of them though, the blond had finished his meditation.

"Huh, so Jiraiya was telling the truth when he said that you could use Sage Mode even better than he could. Who would have thought," Kakashi commented as he blocked a punch to the face.

Sage Mode?

Sasuke couldn't remember having heard of the jutsu before, not even in the old textbooks that Itachi had forced him to read so many years ago. In fact, the only thing that he had ever heard about some sort of special jutsu that those shinobi called sages used was a jutsu that enhanced the speed, strength, and senses of the user.

"My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and one day, I'm going to become the next Hokage!" the blond announced, out of nowhere.

Another frown appeared on Sasuke's mouth as he realized just what the blonde, Naruto, was yelling to the skies like it was everyone's business. This teen boy, almost the same age as him, wanted to be the Hokage, even though he grew up in almost the same circumstances that he had.

"Dobe, even if the shinobi system suddenly came back after so many years, nobody should want to take over the position of Kage. Especially under the circumstances that they had been murdered under," the dark haired teen muttered.

"Yeah, well, who the hell are you to make my decisions for me, teme? The last time I checked, you were just some random person spying on my fight with Kakashi," someone asked him, accusingly.

And his ego took yet another blow, although this one wasn't from his own actions. Well, he guessed that they were but it wasn't his fault that this blond idiot had brought it up.

Naruto was sitting on the beam directly across from the one that he had been sitting on. They glared at each other, and it almost seemed as if there was electricity going from his onyx eyes to this dobe's strange, orange eyes. That was the only strange part though, as he noticed the orange markings that were on the upper part of his eyes. Just what type of jutsu was this?

"Hn. I wonder what would happen if you just happened to fall off of that beam…," he commented, not breaking the glare.

"Pfft, go ahead and try it. Chances are that I wouldn't even feel it," Naruto answered, a smirk appearing on his face.

His thoughts were once again drawn towards the strange orange markings and the strange rectangular pupil in the blonde's orange eyes. Why did he get the feeling that this wasn't the way that Naruto normally looked? Heh, there was nothing normal about this guy, no matter what jutsu he was using.

Quickly, he cast the thoughts from his mind, because he didn't actually care about this guy, and jumped down from the beam with ease. Of course, that was right after he not so subtly pushed the blond off of the beam without a second thought.

"See, I didn't even feel a thing, teme!" Naruto shouted as he stood up, without a single scratch on his person.

Sasuke simply walked out of the door, refusing to admit even to himself that he was fleeing.

* * *

><p>Sasuke loved onigiri and tomatoes, he really did, but today they didn't seem as good as they normally were. It most likely had something to do with the fact that the meal was a bribe from Itachi to get him to train with Kakashi, or it had something to do with the other three people at the table.<p>

He wasn't paying any of them any attention though, and it seemed like at least two out of three of them were ignoring him too. The one exception was the blond teen, Naruto, that he had met earlier, who kept looking over at him, curiously. Kakashi had more than likely explained just who he was sometime between him leaving and the meal.

"I thought that Jiraiya was going to be coming here with the two of you, Kakashi," Itachi commented, taking a bite out of his own onigiri.

"Ah, we thought so too. In fact, he was travelling with us until we got to Ame and then out of nowhere, he informed us that he had to go do some more research for his next novel, just as we were on the outskirts of the village. Naruto… well, he wasn't too happy with him," the gray haired man explained.

"Damn right, I'm upset with that so called super pervert! He had told me that you were going to be helping him train me, not that you would be taking over my training completely. And then neither of you mentioned that I might be training with someone else too," the blond protested.

Sasuke's eyes narrowed at the mention of Jiraiya. The last time that he had checked, Jiraiya was one of the Sannin of Konoha. What would somebody like that be doing training a dobe like Naruto? It was unlikely that a Sannin would just pick some random person off of the street to train.

The blonde continued to eat, completely oblivious to the thoughts running through Sasuke's mind. However, with a simple glance in the younger Uchiha's direction, Itachi could immediately tell what his little brother was thinking about, like he always could.

"Sasuke, I'm sure that nobody mentioned this during your little self introduction to Naruto, but Naruto is the son of the Fourth Hokage and his wife. In fact, Mother was friends with the Fourth's wife, and that's why the three of us were able to get away from the village when we did," Itachi explained, not bothering to even look at Sasuke.

"Or if you wanted to look at it in another way, Jiraiya taught the Fourth Hokage back when he was still a genin, along with the other two Sannin, and up until a few years before the year you and Naruto were born in, the Fourth had taught me," Kakashi added in.

"Ah, that's right, Ero-sennin did mention something about teaching my dad when he was young," the blond thought aloud, as if it were a new observation.

This guy was the Fourth Hokage's son? He didn't want to believe it.

Naruto was such an idiot, while the Fourth Hokage was known in lands far and wide as a genius. It seemed that the only thing the two had in common were looks, as he thought back to the old books Itachi had made him read.

"Hn. Maybe you're slightly more interesting than I was originally led to believe, dobe," Sasuke commented, with a small smirk.

The blond looked over at him in shock, almost as if he had taken the sentence as a compliment instead of the insult Sasuke had meant it as. There was one thing that the younger Uchiha noticed though, and that was the pair of bright blue eyes that stared at him. They were completely different from the orange colour they had been earlier.

Only one thought ran through his mind at the sight of them.

They were filled with loneliness, and hurt, even if it was far below the temporary happiness showing through at the moment. And he wanted to do everything within his power to change that.

"Yeah, well, maybe you're not as much of a bastard as I was originally led to believe, teme," Naruto responded.


End file.
